Land of the Lost: Season 1 [3 Discs] [DVD]

Ranger Rick Marshall (Spencer Milligan) and his children Will (Wesley Eure) and Holly (Kathleen Coleman) have already been sucked into a vortex at the bottom of a Colorado River waterfall, and have emerged in the primitive "alternate planet" Altrusia, as Land of the Lost begins its first season. Using their well-developed survival skills, the Marshalls manage to establish living quarters in a cave on a high bluff, and have fashioned the tools, weaponry and furniture necessary for survival. They have also met and tentatively befriended Cha-Ka (Phillip Paley), Ta (Joe A. Giamalva), and Sa (Sharon Baird), a family of monkey-like humans from the Cenozoic era Paku Tribe, who speak a strange but eminently logical tongue called Pakuni. Additionally, Rick and his kids have come to realize that some of the Paleozic era dinosaurs that are indigenous to Altrusia are friendly, and some are decidedly not. However, they find no friends amongst the Sleestak, a bestial tribe of creatures who are described various by the characters as "giant insects" and "huge lizards." Gradually, the Marshalls learn more and more about the strange new world around them -- and, in the bargain, more and more about themselves. Making sporadic appearances throughout season one is a loquacious, highly advanced and frustratingly enigmatic being called Enik (Walker Edmiston) -- who, as it turns out, holds the key to the secret behind Altrusia and the evolution (or, to be more precise, devolution) of the hideous Sleestak. The series' first season benefits enormously from the input of its story editor David Gerrold, one of America's foremost writers of science fiction and fantasy (among his credits is the classic Star Trek episode"The Trouble With Tribbles"). Gerrold was able to attract several other top writers in his field to Land of the Lost, notably Larry Niven, Ben Bova, D.C. Fontana, and Walter Koenig (who, of course, also played the role of Chekov on Star Trek). The high level of the series' scriptwork more than compensated for the occasional crudeness of its special effects (which is still pretty impressive by 1974 standards). The final episode of Land of the Lost's first season is one of those "open-ended affairs" that literally brought the action full circle -- thereby paving the way for a healthy rerun cycle.~Hal Erickson